Then and Now
by Keija
Summary: The companion to Now and Then only told from David's POV instead of Lynne's. David wonders what's going on with Lynne..


Why is it every time I try and write something Jack/Kate based I immediately start thinking of fic for different characters instead. Gah. I think I need some Jack/Kate inspiration dust, heh. This is a companion piece to 'Now and Then' (I can't think up titles :P), David's point of view instead of Lynne's. I really have no idea where this is going (if anywhere!).  
  
If the formatting goes screwy (the preview kept showing it as one long bunch of text *frown* although I've not done anything different to usual) it's located at 24Fanfic too, the link is on my profile page. Thanks to everyone who reviews what I write, you guys rock :)  
  
- 24 -  
  
From his office, David Palmer had a clear view of Lynne Kresge sitting at her desk in the main office. He was alone, lost in thought when he should be working. He'd brought Lynne back to work four months ago and he'd been worried about her since the moment she arrived. David wasn't used to worrying this much about the people who worked for him, he cared about his employees more than most probably did, but he didn't tend to *worry* about them. Lynne was different. After the months they'd spent in hospital recovering together he'd come to think of her as a friend, one he cared about very much and one he worried about constantly, even if he didn't show it very often. He was used to controlling his emotions, after all he *had* been married to Sherry and that would teach anyone control and patience.  
  
She was on the phone when he glanced at her again, reading a piece of paper one of the junior employees had handed her a moment ago. Her dark hair made her skin look even paler, something that concerned him nearly as much as the restless glances around the office that he'd been observing for weeks. He'd somehow assumed that the friendship they'd developed away from work would continue when Lynne came back but instead they'd both ended up in an awkward version of their previous formality, on top of which Lynne had seemed distant, never staying around long enough for them to talk once the work was done. David was rarely confused but in this case he was, he had no idea what was going on in Lynne's mind.  
  
He picked up the phone and buzzed through on the intercom to Lynne's desk.  
  
"Kresge."  
  
He could see her rubbing tiredly at her eyes as she picked up the phone. David knew Lynne pretty well and he knew she wouldn't leave the office before as much of her workload as possible was complete. He was also fairly sure that if she pushed herself that hard for much longer, she was going to wind up *back* in the hospital from exhaustion. Whether she liked it or not, she wasn't fully recovered yet and she was going to have to remember that.  
  
"Lynne, could you come into my office for a moment?"  
  
"I'll be right there, sir."  
  
David hung up the phone and sighed, resting his head in his hands. There was something deeper than just friendship to what he felt for Lynne. He'd realised it when he first left the hospital, leaving her behind, and put it down to being suddenly away from someone who'd been his constant companion for months on end. It had stayed with him though and hadn't faded away. He could see where his attraction to Lynne lay; she was beautiful and intelligent *and* strong enough to stand her ground with Sherry. David didn't worry about the possibility of Sherry 'persuading' Lynne into somehow doing what *she* thought was best for his Presidency (a trick she'd successfully pulled off with Patti), he trusted Lynne completely which was a rarity for him in recent years and he liked her company.  
  
The knock on the door announced Lynne's presence and he told her to come in, adding this to list of things that were 'wrong' at the moment; normally Lynne knocked and entered without waiting for a reply, a habit she'd developed over time.  
  
"You wanted to see me, sir?" she asked.  
  
He looked at her for a moment before he spoke, picking up a slight nervousness in her eyes although she met his and didn't look away. He took note of the files she held in her arms, a work barricade against whatever he'd called her in here for.  
  
"You first," he waved her towards a seat. "Have a seat, Lynne," he added with a touch of amusement, deciding to play with her just a little, "Unless you're not planning on stopping long."  
  
He got her with that one, he noted, seeing something flicker in her eyes. She gave him a quick smile without looking at him as she sat down in one of the chairs facing the desk.  
  
"I've re-drafted the speech you'll be giving tomorrow to the Senate," Lynne began, handing him the piece of paper on top of the others. He took it, glancing at the contents without really seeing it, as Lynne's voice in the background explained what she'd done. She turned away from him for a minute to pick up the other papers, which she handed over one by one..  
  
"Jenny asked me to pass this along to you and we got the updated figures in for the tester polls we've been doing. The results are fairly good but they could be better. I think we're going to have to do some careful planning, PR-wise, to maintain a strong position."  
  
She'd run out of paperwork so she sat back down and leant back in the chair, apparently waiting to find out why he'd called her into his office. He pushed the paperwork to one side, intending to look at it later, and looked at Lynne again. She wouldn't meet his eyes this time, looking vaguely in his direction instead. He stood up and walked around to the front of the desk, leaning against the edge. Without the barrier of the desk between them, Lynne had to look up and meet his eyes.  
  
"Lynne, what's going on?"  
  
He was hoping that the direct question would spark some of the honesty they'd shared in the hospital because right now, David didn't know how else to reach her.  
  
"I don't know what you mean, sir."  
  
He hated the automatic response.  
  
"Lynne, you've seemed restless and unhappy working here since you got back," he told her honestly. "Maybe I asked you to come back to work too early .." he rubbed his temples, feeling a headache forming and feeling suddenly remorseful for asking Lynne to come back to work when he had. The doctors had advocated another month off but Lynne had said she was fine. "Or maybe something else is bothering you. I don't know, because you aren't talking to me."  
  
He'd let too much of his frustration with the situation leak into his voice but he felt it fade as he looked at Lynne and felt concern take it's place. To him it felt as though Lynne was hiding something and although that thought brought immediate anger - he loathed being lied to, a legacy of his marriage to Sherry - he was more curious as to what was so important. If Lynne was hiding something, he was going to choose to believe it was for a good reason. Which didn't mean he didn't want to know what it was, he fully expected she'd tell him eventually.  
  
"Whatever it is, maybe I can help," he tried as a last resort.  
  
"I .." Lynne started to speak and then broke off. "I'm not ready to talk about it right now, sir. Soon, just .. not right now." He couldn't press her on this anymore right now, especially not since she'd just looked up at him, silent pleading in her eyes - whether she was aware of it or not - for him not to ask her again today. He let it go, deciding to try and lift the conversation to a lighter note.  
  
"Then do you think we could at least get back to you calling me David?," he teased. "We were off to such a good start when we were both invalids." He was hoping that reminding her of *then* would somehow help him to fix *now* and it seemed to work.  
  
"I think I can manage that one." The smile that accompanied the words made David feel more confident that whatever was going on would eventually be resolved. The smile was genuine Lynne and it was the first one he'd seen in quite a while.  
  
"Good." He straightened and returned to his chair behind the desk, reaching for the papers that Lynne had given him earlier on and thinking he should have paid more attention to what she was saying about them at the time than he had. Lynne took his returning to work as the dismissal he'd intended it to be and headed for the door.  
  
David frowned at one of the re-written paragraphs in Lynne's speech; although they'd agreed upon the corrections together before Lynne did the re-write, the paragraph didn't work the way he'd hoped it would. Intending to hand back the speech and have her re-write the paragraph, he said, "Lynne, one last thing?"  
  
Lynne closed the door she'd been opening and turned around. Somewhere between thinking the thought and saying it, 'Can you re-work this paragraph again' changed into, "Wrap up what you're doing and get some rest." He cut her off before she could argue. "I mean it, Lynne."  
  
"Yes, David." He smiled at her pointed reply and dismissed her from his office, watching her head back to her desk to pick up her things before she did as he'd told her to and left to get some rest. He turned his attention back to the speech; after all if he could run a country, he could re-write one paragraph of his own speech.  
  
One way or another, he'd find out what Lynne was hiding and deal with it when the time came. 


End file.
